Idealizations in Science

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LAST REVIEWED: 08 October 2015

LAST MODIFIED: 29 May 2014

DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396577-0193

Introduction

Idealization, or the intentional misrepresentation of the empirical system that is being studied, is ubiquitous within the practice of science. Much of contemporary science proceeds via the use of models, and all models, including those used in biology, physics, economics, chemistry, and geology, contain idealizations. Idealizations are used by scientists for many purposes. Most often they are used to simplify scientific models for representational or explanatory uses or to make them computationally tractable. Idealizations come in different forms, including abstractions, approximations, Galilean idealizations, and fictions. Because of the widespread use of idealization across the scientific disciplines, philosophers of science have recently become interested in understanding their role in scientific practice. Of particular interest are the questions of the role of idealizations in scientific representation and explanation and of whether or not idealized models can be considered realistic.

This article discusses the role of idealization in economics. Nowak argues that while idealized models do enable understanding, removing idealizations from a model and replacing them with true structures would enhance the model’s explanatory power. In other words, he argues that idealized models provide only “approximate explanations.”